Will Theaters Become Irrelevant?

Due to current COVID-19 pandemic, movie theaters have closed down, causing problems for companies that produce movies. This was all solved though, with Trolls: World Tour. Trolls: World Tour came out on April 10th, 2020, releasing to streaming services such as Youtube, Prime Video, and Apple TV. This was a revolution. Dreamworks had started a trend of realeasing movies at home, but there was a problem: the companies were getting more money by streaming than sending to theaters, causing an argument. After the pandemic is over, will theaters even be needed anymore?

After Trolls: World Tour not releasing in theaters, AMC banned Universal from sending movies to AMC Theaters. This is because Universal started to follow suit after Trolls. “NBC Universal’s CEO told the Wall Street Journal once theaters reopen they expect to release movies directly to theaters and on-demand.”1

So, will the public need theaters anymore if we can just watch them the comfort of our own couches. The thing is, watching movies at the theater has a different feel than just watching Netflix at home.